Perforator



Oct. 17, 1967 J wo ETAL 3,347,123

- PEBFORATOR Filed June 21, 1965 INVENTORS JflC08 6. WOBNEB M5 4 True/v5VS United States Patent f 3,347,123 PERFORATOR Jacob E. Worner,Centerville, and RobertC. Edwards, Kettering, Ohio, assignors toPrinting Service Company, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed.iune 21, 1965, Ser. No. 465,440 4 Claims. (Cl. 83-346) This inventionrelates to a perforator and more particularly to a perforating mechanismconveniently adaptable for use with a continuous forms printing press.As will become apparent from the following description, the invention isnot necessarily so limited.

An object of this invention is to provide simple, reliable andinexpensive mechanism for cutting discontinuous, longitudinalperforations in continuous forms, webs or the like upon which printedmatter may or may not appear.

Another object of this invention is to provide a perforating mechanismwhich may be controlled by the feed or pull mechanism of a printingpress.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved perforatingmechanism for forming or cutting perforations at spaced intervals alonga continuous form or web or the like wherein the length of theperforated lines and the spacing between perforated lines can easily bevaried.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription.

Referring to the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a continuous formsprinting press provided with an intermittent perforator constructed inaccordance with this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the press and of theperforating mechanism viewed in the direction of arrows 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of a portion of the structure ofFIGURE 1 as viewed in the direction of arrows 3 3 thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a partial side elevational view as viewed in the directionindicated by arrows 4-4 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic diagram of an electrical circuit connectingportions of the perforating mechanism shown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail, the invention is shownembodied in a continuous forms printing press generally designated bythe reference character 10. The press 10, which is only partiallyillustrated in the drawing, includes a hood or shield 12 covering partsof a press drive mechanism adapted to intermittently draw a web orcontinuous form 14 across the face of a press platen 16. The web orcontinuous form 14 constitutes a paper sheet or the like which is eitherzig-zag folded in a hopper (not shown) or rolled up, and may or may notbe covered with printed matter. The drive mechanism partially covered bythe hood or shield 12 may be of the type employed in a presscommercially known as the A-K Continuous Forms Press available fromBrandtjen & Kluge, Inc. of St. Paul, Minn. As will become apparent fromthe ensuing description, the invention need not be used with a pressdrive mechanism. Rather, the invention can be embodied in separatemachines designed solely for the purpose of perforating forms and thelike.

The drive mechanism partially located under the hood or shield 12includes a drive shaft 18 projecting from the side of the hood or shield12 and connected by gearing, generally designated 20, to a driven shaftor pinwheel feed shaft 22 journalled in depending side plate portions ofthe hood or shield 12. The shaft 22 supports, in this embodiment, a pairof pin wheels 24 upon which are mounted a plurality of radiallyprojecting pins 26 and which are 3,347,1213 Patented Get. 17, 1967covered by protective, slotted plates 28 depending from the lower frontedge of the shield 12. The pins 26 are adapted to enter marginalpinwheel holes 30 in the continuous form 14.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, the drive shaft 18 rotatesthrough increments to draw or pull the continuous form 14 apredetermined distance across the platen 16 and over the hood or shield12. The continuous form 14 passes over the top of the hood or shield 12onto another hopper or roller (not shown). For example, the gearing 20may be designed to pull 28 inches of the continuous form 14 upon eachhalf revolution of the drive shaft 18. The rotary drive for the driveshaft 18 is intermittent so that the printing operation can take placewhen the drive shaft 18 is not rotating. Further details of the drivemechanism have not been illustrated since they are conventional or maybe designed to fit the needs of particular applications.

The continuous form 14 is shown provided with a pinrality of parallel,horizontal perforated lines 32 and a continuous, longitudinal, centerperforated line 34. Given the example of a 28 inch pull of thecontinuous form 14 upon each half rotation of the drive shaft 18, thehorizontal perforated lines 32 may be spaced every 3 /2 inches. Thus,there would be a total of eight rectangular panels, designated 14a,bounded by three perforated lines and the margins of web 14 on each sideof the center perforated line 34 for each 28 inch form. The horizontalperforated lines 32 are formed in any conventional manner, such as by aperforating rule mounted on a rotating drum. Continuous longitudinalperforations, such as the perforated line 34, can be cut by a perforatorwheel constantly engaged with the continuous form 14 during a printingoperation.

The form 14 shown in FIGURE 1 also has a pair of parallel, elongate,discontinuous, longitudinal perforated lines 36 extending along severalof the rectangular panels 14a on each side of the central perforatedline 34 and a pair of parallel, short, longitudinal perforated lines 38extending along only one of the panels 14a on each side of the centerline 34. In the given example involving a 28 inch pull for a 28 inchform, both discontinuous lines 36 may extend for 21 inches, or sixpanels 14a, on each side of the center line 34. As illustrated, theperforated line 36 to the left of the center line 34 may start twopanels lower than the line 36 on the right. The perforated lines 38 arecut in spaced, non-adjacent panels 14a.

Some printing presses are provided with mechanisms capable of cutting asingle, discontinuous, longitudinal perforated line during the printingoperation. Hence, it is possible, for example, and as illustrated, thatthe perforated line 36 to the left in FIGURE 1 was cut in a priorprinting operation. The perforated line 36 to the right in FIGURE 1 iscut by mechanism made in accordance with this invention during the sameoperation used to cut the perforated lines 38. The perforated lines 38can be cut by conventional perforating rules locked in the press chase(not shown) engaging the portion of form 14 covering the press platen 16when the drive shaft 18 is at rest. The 21 inch perforated line 36 onthe right in FIG- URE 1 could be cut by a similar rule in the presschase provided the dimensions of the chase were adequate to accommodatesuch a long rule. This invention, when forming part of a printing press,is directed to the provision of an intermittent perforator for presseshaving chases too small to cut the desired length of longitudinal,discontinuous perforated lines. As will become apparent, the perforatormechanism described below may also be used to cut perforated lines whichdiffer in length. Thus, for example, a longitudinal path along a 28 inchform could have perforated lines of 3 /2 inches, 7 inches and 3 /2inches with two skips (no perforations) between the perforated lines ofseven inches each. A variety of other perforated lengths and skips couldalso be obtained.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the mechanism for cutting the perforated line 36on the right in FIGURE 1 includes a conventional perforator wheel 40having a serrated peripheral edge 42 and mounted for rotation upon ayoke 44 of a support stem 46 which passes through an aperture in aperforator holder 48. The support stem 46 is provided with screw threads50 and is locked on the holder 48by a pair of adjusting nuts 52 engagingthe screw threads 50 and straddling a portion, designated 48a, of theholder 48. The holder 48 is in turn mounted, as by a pivot pin 54, upona perforator support member 56 clamped, as by a set screw 58, to aperforator support shaft 60. The support shaft 60, which has a squarecrosssection for most of its length to simplify the clamping of thesupport member 56 thereto, has round ends 62 (see FIGURES 3 and 4)journalled for rotation in spaced perforator support plates 64, 66welded or otherwise affixed to the opposite sides of the hood or shield12 from which the entire perforating mechanism derives fixed support.

A perforator platen 70 is, in any suitable manner, mounted upon thedriven shaft 22 between the pinwheels 24 and positioned for engagementby the perforator wheel 40.Tl1e perforator support member 56 isadjustable along the length of the support shaft 60 so that the laterallocation of the perforations produced by the perforator wheel 40 uponthe continuous form 14 may be varied as needed. To maintain aconfronting relationship with the perforator wheel 40, the perforatorplaten 70 is adjustable along the length of the driven shaft 22. Tocreate the desired pressure of the perforator wheel 40 against theperforator platen 70 when perforating, a compression spring 72 actin'gbetween the perforator support member 56 and the holder 48 biases thewheel 40 about the pivot pin 54 toward the platen 70.. The bias of thespring 72 acts against an adjustable stop provided by an adjusting screw74 threaded in the perforator holder 48 and engaging an upper surfaceportion of the support member 56.

Because of its eccentric mounting, the perforator wheel 40 may be movedtoward and away from the perforator platen 70 by rotation of theperforator support shaft 60 about its longitudinal axis. To this end, asshown in FIG- URE 4, the mid-portion of a perforator pivot arm 76 isafiixed to the roundend 62 of the shaft 60 projecting through the plate64. A tension spring 78 connected between one end of the arm 76 and theside of the shield 12 biases the pivot arm 76 in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIGURE 4, about the longitudinal axis of theshaft 60, thereby biasing the perforator wheel 40 out of engagement withthe platen 70. A solenoid actuator 80, having an actuating arm 82afiixed to the other end of the pivot arm 76, is pivotally mounted as bya pivot pin 84, upon the support plate 64. To appropriately align thepivot arm 76 with the actuating arm 82, a spacer 86 is located betweenthe pivot arm 76 and the support plate 64. Also for purposes ofalignment, the spring 73 is connected to the side of the shield 12 by anelongate pin 88 adjacent the plate 64. As apparent, the tension spring78 normally holds the perforator wheel 40 away from the platen 70 by aspacing determined by the length of the solenoid actuating arm 82 whenthe solenoid actuator 80 is de-energized. When the solenoid actuator 80*is energized, the actuating arm 82 is drawn downwardly and to the left,as viewed in FIGURE 4, thereby rotating the arm 76 in a clockwisedirection and drawing the perforator wheel 40 into engagement with theplaten 70. Under such circumstance, of course, the portion of the web orcontinuous form 14 passing between the perforator wheel 40 and theplaten 70 will be perforated.

Referring now to the right side of FIGURE 1 and to FIGURES 3 and 5, thesolenoid actuator 30 is controlled by a switch 90 operated by a camfollower roller 92 following upon a cam plate 94 which is fixed to theextreme end of the drive shaft 18. The periphery of the cam plate 94 hasa profile designed to energize the solenoid actuator during most of therotation of the drive shaft 18 since the perforated line 36 to the rightin FIGURE 1 is to be 21 inches long in the example mentioned above. Asindicated in FIGURE 5, the electrical connection between the switch andthe solenoid actuator 80 can be a simple series circuit connected to anysuitable source S.

The gearing 20 includes a main drive gear mounted on the end of thedrive shaft 18, a spur gear 102 meshed with the drive gear 100 andmounted for rotation on a fixed shaft 104, an idler gear 106 fixed tothe spur gear 102 and mounted on the same shaft 104, and a driven gear108 afiixed to the end of the driven shaft 22. The various gears formingthe gearing 20 can be removed and replaced by other gears in order tochange the pull of the web or continuous form 14 caused by each halfrotation of the drive shaft 18. Similarly, the cam plate 94 can beremoved and replaced by cam plates having different profiles, therebychanging the length of the lines to be perforated and the length of theskips therebetween.

From the foregoing, it may be observed that a simple, inexpensive, yetreliable, intermittent perforator mechanism may easily be attached to acontinuous forms printing'press. The parts of the press remainunchanged. The gearing 20 may or may not be identical to the gearingprovided by the press manufacturer. To suit particular applications, thegearing may be changed so long as the cam plate 94 can be mounted torotate in proportion to the rotation of the drive shaft 18. Toaccommodate different sizes of gears involved in gear changes, the fixedshaft 104 is desirably easily movable relative to the shafts 18 and 22..Since the specific mounting of the shaft 104 can take a variety of wellknown forms, none is detailed herein. As will be appreciated, the partsof the perforator mechanism may easily be mounted upon the shield 12.Platens such as the platen wheel 70 are readily available. As alreadynoted, the platen 70 is adjustable along the length of the driven shaft22. The pinwheels 24 are also movable along the shaft 22. The details ofthe mechanism for afiixing the wheels 24 and the platen 70 upon theshaft 22 have not been shown since such details are well known. It willalso be apparent that the perforator mech anism described above can bepart of a separate machine or another type of press, provided that thereis a drive mechanism for the mounting of a cam, such as 94, for rotationthrough a predetermined angle for a given length of the web orcontinuous form passing between the perforator element and theperforator platen.

Although the presently preferred embodiment of the device has beendescribed, it will be understood that within the purview of thisinvention various changes may be made in the form, details, proportionand arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation,

. which generally stated consist in a device capable of carrying out theobjects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims. Toavoid repetition, the term continuous form used in the appended claimsis intended to refer to any type of sheet material which may be drawnbetween the perforator element and the perforator platen.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. For use in a continuous forms printing press having a feed mechanism,thecombination comprising: a cam driven by said feed mechanism, a switchcontrolled by said cam, a solenoid actuator connected in electricalcircuit with said switch andcontrolled by saidswitch, a perforator wheelfor forming a continuous line of perforations when contacting a formdrawn through said press, and means connecting said solenoid actuator tosaid perforator wheel for moving said perforator wheel into and out ofperforating contact with a portion of a continuous form drawn throughaid press depending upon the energized state of said solenoid actuator.

2. The combination comprising: a fixed support, a

75 perforator platen mounted on said support, a perforator support shaftmounted for rotation on said support in spaced relation to saidperforator platen, a perforator wheel eccentrically mounted on saidsupport shaft for rotation therewith toward and away from saidperforator platen, bias means connected to said support shaftmaintaining said perforator wheel in a predetermined position relativeto said perforator platen, a continuous form feed mechanism adaptedintermittently to draw a continuous form along a path between saidperforator platen and said perforator wheel, and means responsive tooperation of said continuous form feed mechanism overcoming said biasmeans to rotate said support shaft thereby changing the position of saidperforator wheel relative to said perforator platen, said meansincluding a pivot arm connected to said support shaft, a solenoidactuator connected to said pivot arm, and cam means responsive tooperation of said form feed mechanism intermittently energizing saidsolenoid actuator.

3. For use with apparatus of the type having a feed mechanism fordrawing sheet material along a predetermined path and said feedmechanism including a rotating shaft, a perforator mechanism for formingperforations in said sheet material comprising: a perforator platenmounted on said apparatus on one side of said path, a perforator supportshaft mounted for rotation on said apparatus in spaced relation to saidperforator platen, a perforator wheel eccentrically mounted on saidsupport shaft for rotation therewith toward and away from saidperforator platen, bias means connected to said support shaftmaintaining said perforator wheel in a predetermined position relativeto said perforator platen, and means overcoming said bias meansintermittently to rotate said support shaft thereby changing theposition of said perforator wheel relative to said perforator platen,said last mentioned means including a pivot arm connected to saidsupport shaft, a solenoid actuator connected to said pivot arm, and cammeans on said rotating shaft inv termittently energizing said solenoidactuator.

4. In a continuous form printing press having a feed mechanism includinga drive shaft, a driven shaft, a hood or shield covering a portion ofsaid drive shaft, gearing interconnecting said drive shaft and saiddriven shaft, and pinwheels mounted on said driven shaft for rotationtherewith adapted to engage marginal holes in a continuous form to bedrawn through said press, an intermittent perforating mechanismcomprising: a pair of perforator support plates attached to said shield,a per forator support shaft journalled in said plates for rotation abouta predetermined axis, a perforator wheel mounted on said support shaft,a perforator platen mounted on said driven shaft in confronting relationto said perforator wheel, bias means connected to said support shaftmaintaining said perforator wheel in a predetermined position relativeto said perforator platen, a solenoid actuator connected to saidperforator support shaft for rotating said support shaft about said axisagainst the bias of said bias means, a cam connected to said drive shaftand rotating in proportion to the notation of said drive shaft, switchmeans engaging said cam and responsive to rotation of said cam, andelectrical circuit means interconnecting said switch means and saidsolenoid actuator whereby said solenoid actuator is energized andde-energized in response to rotation of said drive shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 852,375 4/ 1907 Carlton 84-4261,678,410 7/1928 Warrington 83346 2,084,573 6/1937 Cowan 83346 X2,333,024 10/1943 Mathes 83-285 2,434,624 1/1948 Peterson 83346 X2,445,843 7/1948 Turner 83337 X 3,057,239 10/1962 Teplitz 83285 X ANDREWR. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner.

1. FOR USE IN A CONTINUOUS FORMS PRINTING PRESS HAVING A FEED MECHANISMTHE COMBINATION COMPRISING:A CAM DRIVEN BY SAID FEED MECHANISM, A SWICHCONTROLLED BY SAID CAM, A SOLENOID ACTUATOR CONNECTED IN ELECTRICALCIRCUIT WITH SAID SWITCH AND CONTROLLED BY SAID SWITCH, A PERFORATORWHEEL FOR FORMING A CONTINUOUS LINE OF PERFORATIONS WHEN CONTACTING AFORM DRAWN THROUGH SAID PRESS, AND MEANS CONNECTING SAID SOLEMOIDACTUATOR TO SAID PERFORATOR WHEEL FOR MOVING SAID PERFORATOR WHEEL INTOAND OUT OF PERFORATING CONTACT WITH A PORTION OF A CONTINUOUS FORM DRAWNTHROUGH SAID PRESS DEPENDING UPON THE ENERGIZED STATE OF SAID SOLENOIDACTUATOR.